Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Could of, would of, should of

Could of,would of, should of: these common misunderstandings stem from a failure to realisethat, in speech, the contractions 'would've, could've and should've' sound asthough 'of' is used. But, these expressions are actually contractions of thephrases, 'would have, could have and should have'. Therefore, the correct usageis 'would've, could've and should've'. If you have difficulty in remembering this, simply seewhether the sentence would sound correct if you substituted 'would have' forthe contraction. There is no linguistic or grammatical case in which 'would of,could of or should of' is correct, and using it will make you appear ignorant.
'If I'd known I could've come over sooner, I would've.'
4 July riots occurred in Toxteth 30 years ago, with theflames of destruction fanned by a hot summer.